Adapt or die is as much an axiom for social structures as it is for ecosystems and species extinction.
Society has undergone massive change in a short period of time - households having unfettered access to the automobile, the telephone, the television, automatic laundry machines, the internet, etc. that have all changed the way families live their lives.
The results of that accumulation have drastically affected some industries, from arts and culture to business, from medicine to education and Edwin Drewlo's area of expertise: the church.
As a veteran pastor and theological consultant, Drewlo has written a new book to help Christians digest the social fluctuations and how they have adjusted the frame around their religion. It is entitled Thoughtful Adaptations to Change: Authentic Christian Faith in Postmodern Times.
He unveils it on Saturday at a Books & Company book launch.
"I've observed a huge change in our culture from basically the 1960s through to the new millennium that I have lived through as a person involved in theology and ministry," he said. "What I try to show through the book is the negative factors and also the positive factors in that shift. I'm particularly interested in how that's affected church organizations and Christianity in general. We're moving from a cognitive, logical way of thinking to a more emotional way of thinking even on things like origin and destiny versus existential ways of living."
He sees an irrefutable tendency in modern culture for Christianity to no longer hold central power over Western culture in particular. Other religions have grown in those spaces, causing Christianity to be considered just one voice among many, or to be dismissed altogether by large swaths of the public. This is natural fact, not Drewlo's insight. Where he brings his lifelong experience to bear is in the assessment of the situation.
There is always opportunity in change.
"I address that in looking at how the gospel is framed in the modern world," he said. "I have a sense of hope for the future about that, but in the meantime we have been sidetracked by issues within Christianity that aren't about the gospel. The question of 'can we trust the Bible?' is up for grabs like it never has before. People are asking for validation of its accuracy and authenticity and what it means to interpret the Bible reasonably."
What does not change, despite the fluctuations of culture, is the primal human desire for fellowship. People of all cultures, across all eras of time and all geographies of the earth, assemble for personal support.
Call them tribes, call them communities, call them chat-rooms or most central to Drewlo's perspective call them congregations.
His book is drawn from his extensive and rather rare experience as a leader of this latter form of people coming together for shared time and mutual interaction.
For decades, Drewlo was the main pastor at Lakewood Alliance Church in Prince George. He had many ministerial experiences before that, but this was the main thrust of his pastoral career. He began there in 1984 when he and his young family moved to Prince George, and he remained there until about 2006.
Since then, he has been the proprietor of Second Wind Ministries, a ministerial consultancy firm specializing in working through the transitional challenges faced by churches in flux. Maybe that's a congregation that can't locate a pastor due to location or theological stance; perhaps that's a church board that is at odds with a congregation or the team of pastors; maybe that's a church that has grown or shrunk and needs to restore governance stability. Drewlo is brought in as a fresh set of experienced, rational eyes with a deep knowledge of church operations and ministry techniques.
Sometimes that involves stepping in himself as a temp pastor until a long-term plan can be put in motion.
He has done this in British Columbia towns like Vanderhoof, Dawson Creek, Trail, Golden, Kitimat, but also in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
At the same time, he is finishing a doctoral degree in pastoral ministry through Trinity International University in Chicago.
"It has been busy. It has been fulfilling. I've had wonderful experiences with these churches I've been involved with, helping get them back on a healthy track, often from a position of turmoil, and finding a pastor that fits them well," he said. "And since I've always been interested in writing, I kept some accounts of all this, and thought about it a lot, and brought that all to the book."
Drewlo will be at Books & Company on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to meet the public, discuss the contents of his writings, and sign copies of the book.
